baophac

why no one talks about Mr Steer burgers? (I recently started to eat beef again so I need all pointers on 'good' vs 'ok')

For the food porn or for American citizenship? ; P ← I have a green card thank you but I should have said 'for your dedication to making me drool uncomfortably at work'.

I am not into the female population but will you marry me ?

While testing the preparation of the Arpege egg for an ucomping party, I stumbled on the maple syrup egg salad. Ok it's more a dessert but the preparation is similar. Start with a hard boiled egg, take the yolk, cool it down and mix in unsalted butter and maply syrup. Fold in fresh whipped cream and pipe it into the egg white halves.

To give a different perspective, we have rice every meal at home. We also order steamed (white) rice at the chinese restaurant. One time my parents said that it's not a complete meal if there isn't rice. Even if we have pho or other noodle soups at home, there will be steamed rice and some vegetable dish along with the meal. I don't know if this is because my parents were poor when they were kids and maybe comfort/home food for them == rice + vegetables. When I eat vietnamese dishes, any kind of starch will do but I prefer the rice vermicelli (a more detailed post on this later). My brother doesn't feed his kid rice but he eats rice about 3 meals a week. My sister has rice only with asian dishes. In some families, they always make a full cooker worth of rice and then leave it on warm until it is finished or dried out (and then it becomes fried rice). This is something that is expected to be always available, no matter what time of the day. rice for breakfast - a sunny side up egg with maggi, reheated leftovers, a quick vegetable stirfry, reheated soup broth with small amount of rice rice in a snack or light meal - cold cooked vegetables with a bit of nuoc mam (fish sauce) [not nuoc cham which is another beast altogether and I may have another detailed post about it too ] Noodles aren't a staple like rice in Vietnamese cuisine. They are eaten as part of a specific soup or dish. You can't just have noodles in place of rice arbitrarily. A bit of background: Parents are born, raised, educated and married in Vietnam. Kids are born in Vietnam but raised and educated in Canada. One is married to a chinese wife, one to an american man, one forever unmarried. I'm the foodie of the house but I don't cook vietnamese.

I always get a laugh when I see people struggling with chopsticks and plates. If all I get is a plate to eat on, it's forks all the way. If you have soup in your meal, is it easy to keep the bowl for eating after or you have to fight with the waitperson ?

I don't have the skill or equipment to make babas. Is there anything I can buy that would have a similar texture? Sponge cake ?

volunteering for food ? can i bring my own bib ?

Sight the March magazines are being removed today so I totally missed out on this issue. Do you think I can get old issues from a Canadian distributor?

I have not found a good patisserie in Montreal since i came back. I used to buy at Patisserie Belge but their quality went down the drain and I have had too many 'old' cake. I used to buy croissants exclusively there too but no longer. I like the Premiere Moisson shop on Sherbrooke near Mackay and their 'Pointe au beurre' (apple pie) is to die for. It's like eating butter. Duc de Lorraine on Chemin de la Cote-des-Neiges north of Queen Mary Road is an old favorite but I have not been back yet.

I wish there are copies to be bought! I went to 4 different Multimags/LPI and they were all sold out!

Good morning Mr Baltas. I was wondering if you will cater to the people who have restrictions in their diet. It could be simple as having items which are 'vegan' or 'gluten free'. On a personal note I did not find tofu as an ingredient as I like to dress it as I would a slice of turkey in a sandwich. Any plans for Canada ? Etoilewich in Quebec, or maybe not .

random thoughts I am not sure if you want Number 9 to be a theme to your burgers ? The #1 burger could be plain. The Original #9 Burger would be your favorite combo. Here are some themes around #9: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9_(number) As for the e-gullet reference we could come up with The e-gullet burger. I would like a 35% fat burger with roma tomatoes and pepperjack cheese please.

I had left over Dijon mustard one day and having eaten too many pork chops the previous week I decided to improvise. The ingredients on special at the store were Chinese cabbage and spinach. I started by toasting whole cloves of garlic in my non-stick wok pan and started to throw in the chopped cabbage and mustard. After the cabbage have been well coated, I add the spinach and continue cooking at high heat for 5 more minutes. It was really by accident that I found the combination of slightly burned dijon mustard + toasted garlic made the whole dish somewhat sweet. The sugar in the mustard preparatin and the caramelization of the garlic contributed to this new recipe!

I have been a fan of Mr Bourdain after reading Kitchen Confidential. I liked him even more after watching A Cook's Tour (ACT). I am now reading the ACT book. This Travel Channel show is nothing like what I have seen from Mr Bourdain in the past and that's both a good and a bad thing. The bad thing is that it's not ACT and so there is a LOT LESS information given out about the food. This is why I found the Paris and Iceland shows somewhat insulting at first. It was insulting because I was expecting a lot more of Mr Bourdain and I was getting 1/10 of it. All the scripted scenes and the catacombs skit was uninteresting and somewhat annoying. I really wanted to know more about Iceland as it is completly unknown to me but the entire episode made me not want to visit the country at all! The whole spa treatment in Iceland could have been given to us in a 30 second footnote. This last example may have revealed that Mr Bourdain is not really an exciting travel guide; if he's not talking about food, he doesn't show the excitement and it translates into boring/bad TV. Overall I think it is the 'vision' of the Travel Channel that makes this show not an overwhelming success. The New Jersey episode on the other hand is a lot more like ACT. There was a good amount of information given out and it makes me want to visit New Jersey next time I go see my brother in Manhattan. The good thing about this new concept/show is that we get to see how Mr Bourdain behaves on camera in a different setting. He's not always talking about food and he's not in a kitchen all the time. Whether you like it or hate it, it's something that we would never see on Food TV because they are too food focused. I do thank the Travel Channel for carrying this show because it gives us viewers a chance to discover new things about Mr Bourdain. I find myself watching ACT shows over and over because it's like reading a reference document: you can't remember all the dishes that are shown in one episode. For No Reservations, I would never want to watch the first 2 episodes again. Personally I would not wish to see Mr Bourdain 'branch out' like this again. Would this show be better if it was in a 30 minute format? Can Mr Bourdain carry a 1 hour show by himself?

my mom adds 7up to coconut juice from the frozen pouch version. it worked for us

any information on the upcoming MTL on St-Laurent? also, did anyone eat at confusion?

One of the items that I like very much from the Vietnamese deli is the fresh-made rice noodle wrapped with minced pork inside. They give you a small plastic cup of fish sauce/vinegar/sugar/lemon juice mix (with a bit of chili and shredded carrots) to go with it. For the life of me, I don't know what it is called. I can only pick them up from the counter and pay (or point and pay in some cases). Do you know the name of that rice noodles? (almost transparent) ← I'm not clear but do you mean pork rolled in rice paper ? If it is, then it could be a bunch of spring rolls. Can you post a photo ?

part deux In dim sum restaurants in Montreal, I noticed a chinese Banh Cuon. The rolls are thicker because the crepe is not made thin like the vietnamese one. The shrimp version is best but the ground pork version is ok. Like a lot of chinese dishes however :( the chinese Banh Cuon is very greasy. I don't know why. You can buy premade Banh Cuon in asian markets. The frozen variety would come out sticky after a trip to the microwave but hardens quite fast. Also the quality of the meat is doubtful. The "fresh" variety is never fresh and it's just too gummy for me. Same comment on the meat quality. These are probably chinese style. When I lived with my parents in Orange County , CA , the premade Banh Cuon were 90% of the quality you get in restaurants. The greasier the Banh Cuon, the longer they last on the shelves. There is a chain of restaurants "Banh Cuon Tay Ho" and I've eaten there twice... it was horribly dry.

Banh = cake/dough/noodle Hoi = to ask, but in this context it's for an engagement party For some reason, Banh Hoi is served when there's an engagement party. The groom-to-be's family bring a whole roasted pork with skin crackling and after it has been cut up, you eat it with Banh Hoi. Since the Banh Hoi is thinner than most rice noodles, it can dry up quickly. That's why some people will drizzle some green onions lightly sauteed in oil on top. When you eat a rice noodle based dish like Bun Thit Nuong (bbq pork), you can substitute Banh Hoi for the usual noddle. It doesn't work in a soup though because the Banh Hoi will just turn into mush. It's like capellini vs spaghetti. Personally I am a big fan of Banh Hoi. Banh Hoi with fish sauce mix and mint leaves = heaven.

My dad told me that Unilever is actually trying to protect the reputation of Phu Quoc and they worked out a deal where they would provide the equipment in exchange for a Knorr logo on each bottle. Supposedly the process is the same and Unilever has no say in changing the recipe or diversifying the product. He also said that there were too many producers of fish sauce who would just put Phu Quoc on the label hoping people will buy the name. We checked our cupboard and found 3 different brands claiming to come from Phu Quoc :) He's a reporter for Nguoi Viet Daily News but I don't know if it was his research or not.

The pork roll mentionned by SuzySushi is called "Ba'nh Cu^o^'n" and it means rolled up dough. Note that Ba'nh also refers to the noodles served in Pho and Bun Bo Hue. I don't have the exact ingredient for the dough but you mix some powder with some liquid and you get this opaque white mix that's very thin. Next you pour a ladle of the mix on a hot pan, roll the pan around to make sure it's evenly coated (the more skillful the cook, the thinner the layer). You cook this for less than a minute, I don't know if you have to flip or not. You make a truckload of these crepes. I know of 2 types of Banh Cuon. Ba'nh Cu^o^'n Thanh Chi` Each crepe is layered on top of each other and served with a bit of oil, green onions and fried red onion (Ha`nh Phi). You can also add the boiled pork (Gio`) if you need meat and you can also have steamed bean sprouts. You grab a crepe delicately, without breaking it or pulling 5 at a time, roll it with your chopstick and eat with meat, sprouts and nuoc cham. Ba'nh Cu^o^'n Thi.t You roll each crepe with a meat filling, usually ground pork that has been cooked with the black chinese mushroom (google couldn't help me on this one). The ones my mom uses is dry and she soaks it in water a bit before using. You also use bean sprouts and the Gio meat and nuoc cham. This preparation is very time consuming so whenever we want to eat them we go to a restaurant or find a in-their-appartment-cook. The names and phone numbers of these Banh Cuon specialists are well guarded secrets in each city. I am unsure of copyright issues with image linking but if you google for "banh cuon" you will find many examples of it. I think if you make the mix too thick it becomes glue :)

After living 8 years in Silicon Valley and enjoying all types of Japanese cuisine, it was good for me to try out Isakaya. I prefer traditional dishes to the sushi fare and this place has more of my favorites than most restaurants. It is quickly replacing the more expensive Katsura as my regular hang out. When I have visitors from out of town, we go to Ginger for the rolls. I'm still looking for a restaurant that serves traditional apetizers like ponzu fried fish and chicken kara age.